Christmas

Christmas was great. We had 22 for dinner. Beth and I worked all Wednesday afternoon and Thursday until everyone arrived but it was worth the effort. I slept almost all day on Friday.

Mom bought big stuffed bones for the dogs. Here is Roko. He doesn't like to pose for pictures.

Melo on the other hand has no problem laying still and having his picture taken.

A sale started in the store on Saturday (for those who haven't read their last newsletter yet) and will run until Wednesday. The yarns on sale include

• 45% off Trendsetter
• 45% off Alpaca with a Twist
• 40% off Blue Sky Alpacas
• 30% off Berroco
• select 100gram balls of self striping sock yarn for $8 a ball

The store is open 10-5:30 on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday we are open 10-1. Sarah is getting married Wednesday afternoon so Beth and I need to get to Milton for 3:30.

Today has been another relaxing day-knitting and watching football. No complaints from me. Time to go root on my Dolphins.

Merry Christmas

Hope you are all having a Merry Christmas. I am having a quick break in between dinner preparations so I thought I would do a post (since I have fallen behind).

Here is the first strip of my log cabin afghan.

I love Rice Krispie squares so Cathy made a Rice Krispie bear for Christmas. I don't want to eat him but she told me we were supposed to so he will be part of desert tonight. Cathy bought a cake mould to make him. VERY CUTE!!

Snowy day in Southern Ontario

It's not a very nice day here today. The snow is blowing like crazy and accumulating quickly. I was set to go to the store but the roads are terrible. Beth went to work and the roads were so bad she turned around and came home. Mom and dad were out for breakfast (don't ask, you would think by the time they reached their age they would know to stay home in this weather) and dad said that going to work wasn't a good idea so I am home for the day. Not to worry, I think I can find some knitting to do.
This is the finished basement. Mom has called Beth "Boo" since she was very little so they had this neon sign made for her.  It reads 'Booz Bar'-the glare makes it hard to read.

This is the light I bought Beth for her birthday.

Here is our guest bathroom.  We bought the shower curtain first and then everything else was bought to match it.  The sink came from Columbus, Ohio (shopping while we were supposed to be at a trade show) and then we had a Corion counter top made to match it.  We still need to get a mirror made. We are trying to hold off on getting the basement too finished. Mom and dad think that they can move in once it is done. :)

This is my tree. Last year we had it in the loft and the height was perfect. Now in the great room it looks really small. I think I might have to do some looking after Christmas for a tall tree on sale. This poor tree is about 15 years old and when you get close it looks like it. Most of my decorations are from Pier 1-one of my favourite stores.

I'm off to knit now.  Hopefully you are all inside, warm and knitting as well.

Let the finishing begin

All twenty squares are finished now and the joining has begun. I picked up along the bottom of square one and worked six rows of garter stitch. These stitches are left on a needle and I then repeat with the top of square two. The squares are joined with a three needle bind off. Fast and easy. Once I have the four strips finished (each will have five squares) then I repeat lengthwise to join the strips. I will then pick up and work six rows of garter stitch around the whole afghan. Beth wants to know if I will have it done in time for Christmas. LOL!!

Buddy cases are here

The Namaste Buddy Cases arrived yesterday. They are going quickly so if you want one as a Christmas gift, call the store right away.

Knit out of Rowan Felted Tweed, this is Olivia from the Kim Hargreaves magazine Thrown Together. The picture doesn't show that the jacket is slightly wider at the bottom than at the bust. Yes Rhonda and Wannietta, I did sew the buttons on-that is why they are slightly crooked.

Kathleen has been a customer of mine since the day we opened. She loves to sew and made me this accessory case for Christmas. Yes, it is tape measures sewn together. She got the idea from the first Debbie Bliss magazine. Thanks Kathleen-this will go in my knitting bag.

I forgot to get pictures of the new light over the pool table last night. It looks great and I will try and remember tonight. Unfortunately I need to brave the malls tonight-not looking forward to it. :(

I didn't make much progress on my Log Cabin Afghan yesterday but maybe today.

Keep checking out the website over the next couple of weeks. I am going through some older yarns and marking them down in price-you will see the $ before the name of the yarn.

I might be done with scarves now

I finished the vero scarf last week. The pattern is easy to do and it looks great. You must be a member of Ravelry to get the pattern so if you aren't signed up yet, don't delay.

I have returned to the log cabin afghan. Square 19 is done and 20 is half way done. Beth and I laid all the squares out last night to put them in order so I can start on the border which will be done in black Cascade 220.

Life is crazy at home right now. We are hosting Christmas dinner so all those little things that haven't been done need to be finished. I bought the light for over the pool table on Friday. It looks great and the electrician is coming to hook it up tonight. We don't let my dad touch anything electrical!! The bathroom has been done and now we need to buy a bed for the guest room and TV for the pool room. I haven't finished my Christmas shopping either so you know I will be in the mall this week-YUCK. Christmas comes every year but I still wait to the last minute.


We received a special shipment of yarn from Fleece Artist. All skeins are $20.

• Leba-65 kid, 20 wool, 15 nylon-425m/250 grams
  
• Nyoni-65 wool, 20 kid, 5 silk, 10 nylon-750m/250 grams
• Tara-51 kid, 19 wool, 30 nylon-2000m/250 grams

How about the Survivor finale last night? I couldn't believe what Corrine said to Sugar. Where does she get off? If I was Sugar I would have gotten up and hit her right there. Bob winning was good but he could have said thank you to Sugar-she could have voted to keep Matty and then he would have won. Yes, I am a fan of Sugar's. She is the first person who made it far in the game playing with her heart and really didn't care if she won the money.

Rowan Garments

I received a surprise today-some garments from Rowan to display in the store. Botticelli looks great in magazine #44 but once you see it in person you will fall in love with it. The cardigan reminds me of Kim Hargreaves and the amazing flowers she put into her designs many years ago.


Another great Martin Storey design called Florentino.

This is Gayle knit out of the new British Sheep Breeds.

Dad arrives home from Honduras tonight. He will be happy to be home but I can already hear him complaining about the weather.

It's time to go home and I need to sit and get some knitting done. I haven't accomplished anything on my latest scarf and need to get it done so I can start another. My list of favourites on Ravelry is long. :)

Another scarf and some football

Here is my latest scarf. I must say that this is my favourite so far. The pattern is called The Prismatic Scarf. I am using Vero Tweed from Naturally. I just started my third ball and the scarf should take four in total. I used 36 stitches but I think 30 would be just as good. This is colour 54-just off the ship. We have two other new colours-denim and a green/gold blend (think camo but in a good way). All three colours are available in tweed or plain.

Yesterday was football day in Toronto. Beth and I set off at 1 and should have made it to the tail gate party at around 2:15 but because of traffic and lack of parking it was closer to 3:15. Didn't start the day out well but from there on we had lots of fun.

This is before the game when the Bills were being introduced. I took many pictures to show dad-he really wanted to be there with us. He called after we got home to see how it went.

This is the start of the game. Our seats were great. 50 yard line and 36 rows up.
The half time show was the Syracuse marching band. Amazing!! This was the highlight of the day for Beth. My highlight was the Dolphins winning-I have been a Miami fan forever which means I really dislike the Bills.

We had the finale of Amazing Race taping and watched it later last night. I am glad about the winning team. Nick and Starr did so well during the whole race that they really deserved it. It was unfortunate the Toni and Dallas weren't at the finish line-are they still in Russia trying to get passports?

The decorating has started

Beth and I are hosting Christmas dinner this year. We will have between twenty and thirty people on Christmas day for a sit down meal. We will be cooking everything except the turkey before anyone asks!! This means the house must really be done up so the work has started.

Jane bought me this decorated tree and thought it would look good on my dining room table. I told her I didn't think so and put it in the great room. After sending her pictures, she agreed with me that it looks good where I put it.

This is our mantle. I fell in love with the boxes filled with balls at Pier 1. As you can see I have them in different spots in the house with more to be filled and put out. The nativity scene is from my mom and I really should get a close up of it. The small tree is decorated with pale turquoise and silver balls-matches the room perfectly. The blown glass is from Cathy and Sarah-not really Christmas but beautiful so it is staying out.

I finished another scarf. The pattern is called Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks. You can find the pattern here. My scarf is knit out of 2 balls of Naturally Vienna on 5.5mm needles.

Beth and I went to One of a Kind on Monday. We found this year's show very disappointing. Our hands were completely empty when we left the show-not one bag. It is amazing how one year you can find lots of things (last year we needed help getting all our purchases to the car) and the next year nothing interests you.

Cashmere-YUM!!!

Beth ordered three skeins of Stormy from Classic Elite to knit herself a scarf. While playing on Ravelry I found the Morningside Neckwarmer (by Jared Flood aka Brooklyn Tweed) and stole one of her skeins last night. I started it after class last night and finished it this afternoon in the store. I also took the other two skeins of aqua to sell in the store-more colours will be here in about a week. The yarn is 100% cashmere. If you look closely at the picture you can see the tweed in the yarn (which is much softer after you knit it than in the ball.) This project was very important in my knitting career-it is the first time that I have knit with 100% cashmere-but it won't be the last.

Dad is in Honduras again for the next two weeks. Tonight he called us and all is well. The weather is hot-95 sure sounds good to me. They are busy pouring concrete so he is in heaven.

Beth is busy at the dining room table doing a puzzle and I am going to start decorating for Christmas.

New Accessories

These great Fimo shawl pins are from Original Artworx in the US. 15 different shapes and colours arrived yesterday.



The Zuma bags arrived Monday afternoon. Lime was brought back for this bag. There will be a special edition colour-eggplant-we don't know when it will be arriving but probably in January. They are on display in the store and are on the website.

The Mini Cozy will hold your double pointed needles and crochet hooks. They are available in the same great colours as the bags. They are also on the website. I was busy on Tuesday afternoon playing with new products.

Speaking of the website, Romi shawl pins have been added too. I will be adding some more patterns to the featured pattern page this afternoon and over the weekend.

Bev, Lisa, Beth and I had a great weekend in Niagara Falls, NY. The hotel was beautiful and the casino was on par with Vegas casinos. I would highly recommend it if you want a quick getaway. It is about 15 minutes from the outlet mall and 30 minutes from Walden Galleria. Of course we went shopping a couple of times. Beth and I got dad's Christmas shopping done-Ralph Lauren and Tommy Bahama makes my dad very happy. I didn't find any shoes-Mom and dad had a bet and dad won.

I am having an at home day today. Last night I had a sleep study (my second one). If you have had one then you know that even though you sleep there it isn't the best nights sleep and it is very short-they wake you up at 6am. I have sleep apnea and will be getting a CPAP machine in the next week. I am very excited to know that I will finally be getting a full nights sleep.

The store is busy-lots of people wanting to get their last minute Christmas gifts made. I am trying very hard to get my Clapotis done. Right now it is almost to the half way point. The knitting isn't hard but I haven't spent much time sitting down to do it.

Happy Thanksgiving to our neighbours to the south. I will have the TV on this afternoon watching football.

Sarah

If you shop in the store on Saturdays then you have probably met Sarah. Sarah has taken classes from me for more than 5 years now and has worked for me for 3. She got engaged on Thanksgiving weekend and is getting married on New Years Eve.

The Thursday night knitting class met at my house tonight for a surprise shower. We had a nice spread of food. I'm not sure how the wine glasses got hidden before I took the picture.

We put in money and Phyllis (The Keeping Room in Dundas) made an amazing gift basket. The theme of the shower was pies. It is a long story but Sarah doesn't like cake so she won't be having a wedding cake. Instead there will be a wedding pie.

Sarah's mom Cathy made this fantastic apron. It is reversible and on each side there is a recipe for a different pie.

Cathy makes Sarah a strawberry pie for her birthday and this is the recipe transferred onto fabric and sewn in.

Tomorrow Beth, Bev, Lisa (Bev's daughter-in-law) and I are going on a road trip for the weekend. We are going across the border to Niagara Falls, NY for some fun at the Seneca Casino. I think there might be a little bit of shopping as well as casino fun. Have a good weekend and I will be back on Monday.

Beth Knits!!

This checkerboard scarf was designed and knit by Beth. Yes, you read that right, Beth can knit!!! She knit it out of Aspire Super Chunky from Naturally on 12mm needles.

I knit this scarf out of Aspire DK with a stitch pattern a student was using to make a pair of gauntlets. Beth started her scarf a while ago and I didn't remember what colour she was using when I started mine-obviously I should have picked a different colour.

I just received word from Namaste that the Zuma bags are on the way. Unfortunately the Buddy Cases haven't arrived in California yet. They will be shipped to me as soon as they get them. I will keep you posted.

The Romi shawl pins are now in the store. Don't wait because they will go quickly.

We received more colours of Cascade 220 today. Currently there are 21,355 projects on Ravelry using it. Check out these great mittens-they are on my to do list. The yarn is great for felting as well.

It's almost home time now. No teaching tonight so I will be finishing a scarf I started last night.

Day of ups and downs

It has been an interesting day so far.  I had my hair cut this morning and then came home to do some work.  I turned on the TV to catch Y & R and Katherine's funeral was on.  I have been watching the show for almost 30 years so it was quite emotional.  I know-it is only TV but still.  Many characters from the past were back and time hasn't been good to some of them-Danny in particular.

I then went upstairs to do some paperwork and my dad calls.  He forgot I wasn't in the store today so he was going to come by the house and drop off some packages from Myrtle Beach-knitting patterns and my Romi shawl pins.  I told him he could leave them at the store but he insisted he needed to come by-he had news.  Of course I thought the worst but he told me it was good news for me and bad news for him.  That didn't make it any better.  Well the news was good-he bought Beth and I tickets to the Miami Dolphins-Buffalo Bills football game in Toronto in a couple of weeks.  We are sitting in the VIP section (Miami Dolphin side of course) at the 50 yard line.  My dad believes if you are going to a game then you should sit in the best seats possible.  The news was bad for him because he will still be in Honduras and can't come with us.  The tailgate party starts at 1 and the game starts at 4.  It is going to be a very long day!!

I do have some knitting to report-I finished a scarf over the weekend.  I will get the ends sewn in tomorrow and then will post pictures and the pattern. 

Now I must run to the post office and the bank.  Tonight is the last class for socks.

Super Chunky

New from Tahki for the fall-Montana. Montana is a soft and lofty 100% unprocessed wool roving in a jumbo 100g hank. Natural wool fibers from the different shades of the sheep's coat are blended into 5 heathered shades; low-impact dyes are used to create the other shades found in Nature. Right now we have three natural shades (natural, bark and charcoal) and cherry blossom.



The scarf requires 2 skeins and 1 skein for the hat-knit on 10mm needles.
Rhonda was in today and will be knitting this sweater from the new Montana booklet in pink. I think she will be back next Saturday with the finished sweater-Rhonda-am I asking too much?

We are now carrying Loop-d-Loop yarns and books by Teva Durham. This is one of her new yarns for fall 2008 called Tundra. I have taken the colour samples from the Tahki-Stacy Charles website. The strawberry and spruce are much nicer in person.



The capelet takes 5-7 balls and is knit on 15mm needles. Definitely something you can knit in a weekend.

Please take a look at Rhonda's blog. She just finished a fabulous cardigan in Noro's Yuzen. I really liked the yarn but now that it is done I really NEED something out of the yarn. It is a dk so the available patterns are endless. It is on Korey's to do list but until it is on the website you can see the shade cards here.

I haven't accomplished much knitting this week. I taught four nights which took a bit of knitting time away from me. I still might get my last two squares done by Sunday though.

How about Survivor? Marcus and then Charlie voted out. I really like Marcus but he was very arrogant thinking he ran the game. Charlie leaving was great because his alliance thought they were in control-think again!!

Have a good weekend-it is rainy here in Southern Ontario-the perfect weather to put on the fireplance and knit.

Rowan-spring 2009

• I finally finished square number 18. Here are squares 16, 17 and 18. Maybe over the weekend I will get the last two done. Beth asks every day when I will have it finished. She is very excited for it to hang in the house. It will hang in the store for a while first but I'm not telling her that right now.
  
  I ordered the spring Rowan this morning. The new magazine looks great. Unfortunately I couldn't keep any of the pictures so this is from memory. Also, I'm not supposed to talk about the new yarns and books until January so here is a small sample just to get you excited.
  
• 4ply Cotton, Damask and Bamboo Tape are discontinued.
  
• there are 2 new yarns
  
• Jaeger Siena will be relabeled as RYC Siena
  
• 3 new colours of RYC Cotton Jeans
  
• 2 new colours of RYC Natural Silk Aran
  
• new magazine from Martin Storey using these 2 yarns-great patterns for men, women and children
• a few favourites that have been a bit neglected (Calmer, All Seasons Cotton and Summer Tweed) are used in the new magazine
• there are 6 colours discontinued in Kidsilk Haze-that is the bad news but the good news is that 4 new colours have been added.
• the new magazine has a fabulous shawl in Kidsilk Haze

It's time to start packing up to go home. Have a good night and stay warm.

Clapotis

The pattern for Clapotis can be found in the fall 2004 edition of knitty.com. I have looked at the pattern many times and wasn't in love with it. On Ravelry you scroll through 692 pages (almost 8500 pictures) of the shawl. I didn't want to be a person to knit what everyone else was knitting so I haven't thought about the pattern. However, at the Knitter's Fair many people were walking around wearing a smaller version as a scarf knit in Noro Kureyon sock yarn. Loved it!!! I am now knitting it in Silk Garden Sock colour 84 on 4mm needles. Sorry-no pictures yet but here is Jane's in Silk Garden sock colour 245.

The original pattern uses Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb. I ordered this in for two customers and the yarn is amazing-50% wool, 50% silk. We have eight colours on order for the store. In the store another yarn that would like great is the Malabrigio Silky Merino.

I'm off to teach week two of socks. The ladies will be turning the heel tonight. This always scares people until they do it and then they realize it really isn't that hard.

Romi

While browsing on Ravelry I kept seeing ads for Romi. I finally checked out her website and she makes beautiful shawl pins. The first shipment arrived just before the Knitter's Fair and we sold almost all of them at the Fair. The next shipment will be here next week. Romi (actually her real name is Rosemary) shipped the pins to mom and dad in Myrtle Beach because the shipping is much quicker when the parcel doesn't have to cross the border. They are leaving Myrtle Beach on Friday so I will have them sometime next weekend.
I have ordered most of the pins from her Elements Collection.

NEW

Namaste is continually adding new products to their amazing line.  This is the new Zuma bag available in charcoal, hollywood pink, lime, olive, peacock, saddle and turquoise.  Eggplant will be a limited edition colour available in the new year.

This is called the Cali Buddy Case-the essential accessory for you little stuff.  These will be arriving in time for Christmas-they should be here the first week of December.

We are excited that a shipment of Lantern Moon needles will be arriving in the store early next week. I haven't stocked these in the store because of the price but we are now getting them directly from the US and the price is considerably lower.

Knitting is currently on the back burner.  The website now shows how much of each yarn we have in stock.  I need to make sure that this is up to date so customers aren't ordering yarn we don't have.  This afternoon I pulled all the Silk Garden off the shelf and counted it.  The good thing about this chore is that the shelves get straightened up more often and look very neat.